The transmission, routing and dissemination of information has occurred over computer networks for many years via standard electronic communication lines. These communication lines are effective, but place limits on the amount of information being transmitted and the speed of the transmission. With the advent of light-wave technology, a large amount of information is capable of being transmitted, routed and disseminated across great distances at a high transmission rate over fiber optic communication lines. These fiber optic systems are most efficient when information is transferred from an end-point to another end-point. When the information must be routed from an end-point to a secondary point, expensive and highly advanced technological apparatus is necessary to accomplish this task. Physically large and expensive routing circuits must be manufactured and implemented to perform these routing functions. To ease this technical limitation, optical flexible circuits have been developed which allow for greater flexibility and ease in developing and maintaining circuits which disseminate information from a single end-point to various secondary end-points. One example of an optical flex circuit is Molex's FlexPlane™. The FlexPlane™ is used to interconnect systems using fiber optic technology. The FlexPlane™ uses a flame-resistant substrate which is attached to multiple fibers which then can connect to the incoming fiber optic lines and connect to the multiple fiber optic lines which are attached to the secondary end-points.
Typical optical flex circuits allow for the fiber optic lines to be “sandwiched” between laminates and adhesives to form a flexible circuit. An example of such a flexible optical circuit is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,991 issued to Knasel. In Knasel, the flexible optical circuit includes a pair of partially flexible sheets and a number of optical fibers disposed between the partially flexible sheets such that the first and second ends of the optical fibers extend outwardly beyond the pair of partially flexible sheets. The pair of partially flexible sheets are adhesively connected around the optical fibers forming the flexible optical circuit. The FlexPlane™ and the flexible optical circuit disclosed in Knasel allow for the use of passive and active components outside of the flexible optical circuit. However, neither of these systems provide a flexible optical circuit which includes passive or active components.
The passive or active components allow for the light-wave signal to be modified or enhanced during its transmission, routing and dissemination. Therefore, a need exists in a light-wave transmission industry for a flexible optical circuit which allows for the incorporation of passive or active components within the flexible optical circuit.